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It’s funny how our perspective and opinions change over the years. 10 years ago I would have told you that I would never get a tattoo. My reasoning was that it lasts forever and will look funny when you get old. Now? I want a tattoo so bad it hurts. What about my old reasonings for not having one? I think they are rubbish. The fact of the matter is that when my tattoo looks funny it won’t be just that part of my body that will be gravitationally challenged. Getting older is a fact of life. Life is short and I want to experience it to the fullest. And I have decided that part of that experience will be a tattoo. It’ll be a while before I get one. Lots of other things I need to do first. But in the mean time I have fallen in love with some lovely photos of tattooed ladies…

A teenage crush on her big brother’s boyfriend. It was one of the few times in her spoiled-little-sister life that Alexa had to swallow the word “no”. She got over it, or she thought she had-until her brother’s wedding brings Eric back into her life, as flirty and fun as ever. It never mattered to her that he’s gay. Attraction is attraction.

One illicit kiss, and their reconnection blows her mind and rekindles girlish hopes. Then he sets her away from him and runs like hell.

Eric can’t believe that a woman’s touch arouses him. Not just any woman, but sweet Alexa, and he can’t help but want more. Desperate to come clean, he confesses all to his steady boyfriend, Brandon, expecting anger. But Brandon’s intrigued. He wants to meet the woman who’s tied Eric up in knots. With luck, maybe she’ll relight the spark between them.

Alexa may have lost her chance with Eric, but the consolation prize-a fling with him and Brandon, is too tempting to resist. She never expected to love both men, or to secretly yearn to belong to the one who commands her body like no other . . .

Warning: Contains m/m sex, m/f/m sex, three people confused and in love, a little bit of punishment, a lot of dirty talk and a lot of naughty sex.

Review:

Having a crush on your brother’s friend. Bad. Having a crush on your brother’s boyfriend? Bad, bad, bad. That’s the idea behind Scandalous, a juicy story about Alexa who finally meets up with her brother’s ex-boyfriend at her brother’s wedding. Things heat up quickly (thankfully) as Alexa and Eric realize there is mutual interest. Though it’s kind of confusing for Eric because he’s still gay and in a relationship. But what the hell? Let’s go with it.

He introduces Alexa to his boyfriend, Brandon and the three quickly become involved with each other. People, it’s HOT! Watching these two men put on a show for Alexa is simply beautiful. And Brandon’s no-nonsense take charge attitude had me rather excitable. It was the kind of turn on in a book I was looking for. That lucky Alexa right smack in the middle of it with Eric, the careful, sensitive one and Brandon the domineering, macho one. I was seriously jealous of that bitch!

The hot sex aside, Scandalous does have a story which I really liked. Being together as a threesome begins to change the dynamics between each of them. Eric and Brandon were having issues before Alexa arrived on the scene but now there’s more distance. Brandon, knowing Eric had never been with a woman before, had suggested the whole arrangement out of curiosity hoping it would reignite their passion. But the joke is on Brandon. Having been with men only for the last few years, he’s questioning his growing feelings for Alexa. As for the object of their affection? Alexa gets the best of both worlds but also double the confusion. What’s a horny girl to do?

I didn’t expect to get emotionally tied in to the story. I just loved the premise of a threesome especially when it involves someone who has always been “unattainable”. And honestly nothing is more attractive than two very hot men into each other. I happen to like my smut balanced with a dose of reality on occasion. It does a body good. I say give Scandalous a read and enjoy.

I have wanted to attend a Pride Parade for a while now. There are numerous reasons. The most important reason was that I wanted to show my support. Not that I was going to stand out or anything but it seemed like a small but fun way to stand in solidarity with the LGBT community. The more frivolous reasons would be to have a good time and people watch.

My ideal “first time” would have been to visit theColumbus,OHPride with a close friend of mine and her wife. Unfortunately that festival fell on a weekend when we had prior commitments. In the end I attended Chicago Pride with another close friend that was just as excited as me to attend her first parade.

So I head off to her house early Sunday morning. I get to her house and walk in. And as is always the case with everything with this friend, our first Pride experience was taken to the next level.

Friend: So, instead of WATCHING the parade, do you want to be IN the parade?

Me: *deer in headlights stare* Um…

Friend: My friend just called and they need people to sit with them on the Nuns for Fun float.

I am trying to embrace life a little more than I have in the past. My internal reaction to this opportunity was a big “Hell NO!” That is what I would have said a year ago. But you know what? An opportunity like that only comes once in a lifetime and the new me realized that although I was afraid I needed to jump at the this chance.

So, yeah. We were IN the 2012 Chicago Pride Parade. And it was AWESOME! Not going to lie. I sometimes felt like we were impostors. I mean, why were a couple of straight girls in the parade? But we weren’t the only straight people in the parade. There were people of ALL orientations in the parade and in the crowd. And we were all there to show pride and support for the LGBT community and it was GRAND. In the end we had a wonderful time and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if given the chance.

The only downside to our amazing day? I didn’t get to see all of the parade. The plan for next year is to sit on the sidelines and drink up while I enjoy the sweaty drunkenness of the crowd and watch all the floats glide by. Until then, enjoy some of the photos I was able to take during the frivolity and chaos.

Sister Vicky was a HUGE hit with the Crowd. Watch out. She might get you with that ruler.

Sister Vicky is one of the stars of Chicago’s long running Late Night Catechism. Yes, this is the float we were with!

Chicago Outfit Roller Derby. Of course, my girlfriend knew these ladies as she used to be a skater for Windy City Rollers, another Chicago derby team.

My former employer. I may not have been a big fan of working there but I have to say that their Pride Alliance bus was fantastic. And I fully admit I want the t-shirts.

Supporters took turns standing by this sign. There was something about this particular girl that really stood out.

This group from Eastern Illinois University was behind us during the parade. They were having a ton of fun keeping the crowd entertained.

We interacted with the crowd through out the parade route. These boys, in particular, won me over with their boisterous drunkeness and air kisses. Seriously. I was half tempted to hop off the float and spend the day with them drinking booze and loving life.

I heard Kate Bornstein on SexOutLoud this week. According to her blog and memoir, she is a Queer and Pleasant danger. After hearing her on the radio, I would venture to agree. http://katebornstein.typepad.com/

I learned about www.smittenkittenonline.com from Hey Epiphora. They are an amazing sex-positive shop that sells ethically made toys and ethically made porn to all genders and orientations.

The amazing sex-positive feminist,Susie Bright, and her daughter Aretha Bright won me over while they were on Tristan’s show. Check out her blog and fall a little in love with her no-nonsense attitude. http://www.susiebright.com/

This week I discovered SexOutLoud. A wonderfully intelligent and sex-positive podcast hosted by Tristan Taormino. The very first podcast was a discussion with Dan Savage. It was a wonderful conversation that started with abstinence only education in schools and moved on to the difference between queer and straight sex and what the two communities could learn from each other. Once the podcast was over I felt that I had learned so much and had been given so much to digest. I also felt much more open and positive about sex which just proved to me that Tristan and Dan are two truly wonderful people that have something important to share with the world.

The abstinence only education piece of this podcast got me thinking about how I grew up and how grateful I am for the sex education I received in middle school and high school. If it wasn’t for sex education in health class, I wouldn’t have learned about birth control. Thank god for my middle school health teacher that took the initiative to teach us not only that condoms should be used during sex but also how to put one on. I probably wouldn’t have learned about STD’s and how to protect myself from them either.

You see, as a child/teenager I was taught that sex is something you saved for marriage. My mom never shied away from the sex talk with me but since the expectation was that I wouldn’t have sex until I married I apparently didn’t need to learn about birth control. And I apparently didn’t need to learn about protection from STD’s because I would probably be marrying a virgin just like me. My mom never had a problem with me learning these things in school but she didn’t put importance on them at home.

In my very early twenties I started distancing myself from my religious upbringing for numerous reasons. Around that time I also re-met my high school sweetheart – now known as my Partner in Crime. We started dating and ended up getting married. Yeah, we had sex before we married. And I am thankful everyday for the sex education I had in school because I was smart enough (as was he) to know that we should use a condom. I am also thankful for an aunt who is a doctor as well as someone I could trust to talk to about my sexual activity. That same aunt gave me my first birth control Rx. That Rx I wouldn’t have thought to ask for had it not been for the education that I didn’t get at home.

So yeah, I can say from personal experience that an abstinence only education taught me little and protected me from nothing. Thankfully the sex education I received in school gave me the protection I needed when I decided to become sexually active. Had it not been for that education in school I have no doubt that I would have made poor choices that wold have ended in a unwanted preganancy and/or STD.